What have we learned from this latest college sports...

1of4William Singer leaves the federal courthouse in Boston after pleading guilty in charges related to college admission schemes, March 13, 2019. The accusations against Singer pose potential problems for the organizations behind the two most widely used college admissions tests, the SAT and the ACT, which most colleges weigh in evaluating prospective students. (Katherine Taylor/The New York Times)Photo: KATHERINE TAYLOR;Katherine Taylor / New York Times

2of4FILE — Students take an SAT prep course in Manhattan, March 1, 2016. While lawbreaking in the college admissions process is rare, experts said, the use of money to oil the gears of the American meritocracy is not. (Yana Paskova/The New York Times)Photo: YANA PASKOVA;Yana Paskova / New York Times

3of4The Galen Center, a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, March 12, 2019. The UCLA men’s soccer coach was placed on leave Tuesday amid an investigation into college admission schemes involving athletics scholarships. (Rozette Rago/The New York Times)Photo: ROZETTE RAGO;Rozette Rago / New York Times

4of4STANFORD, CA - MARCH 12: People play soccer near Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus on March 12, 2019 in Stanford, California. More than 40 people, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, have been charged in a widespread elite college admission bribery scheme. Parents, ACT and SAT administrators and coaches at universities including Stanford, Georgetown, Yale, and the University of Southern California have been charged. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

We’ve all heard of pay to play. Big-time college sports were practically built on the concept.

But now we find that you can pay not to play. And it looks like small-time college sports are all about it.

That’s right. Parents across the country are paying big money to get their kids admitted into elite colleges, often presenting their entitled offspring as athletes. Even if they’re not.

Little Johnny can pretend to be a sailor. Or a swimmer. Or even a soccer star! As long as you have enough dough to pay off the coach. That’s where we find ourselves, folks. Amoral admissions for the 1 percent.

I know. It’s shocking. Rich kids, with richer parents, get a leg up in this world?

Federal prosecutors have charged 50 people in various schemes to trick top schools like Stanford and Yale into admitting certain rich kids.

They all should be ashamed.

Me? I’m trying to make this a teachable moment. What did we learn from this mess?

My top five:

1. USC lives up to its name. It is the “University of Spoiled Children!” The Trojans were all over the federal indictments. Two applicants got into the school as members of the crew team. Except they had never rowed. The ridiculous parents paid to have their daughter photoshopped into a boat. The feds won’t have to photoshop the parents into court.

Two USC sports administrators took in more than $1.5 million in bribes. They got fired.

“It is immensely disappointing that individuals would abuse their position at the university this way,” wrote the school’s interim president, in a letter to USC boosters, according to the New York Times.

Somewhere, Pete Carroll snickered.

2. The NCAA is asleep at the switch. For the second time in the past two years, the FBI charged college sports figures with crimes related to sports corruption.

Back in the fall of 2017, it was big-time college basketball, in which 10 people were charged with fraud related to recruiting.

This time, it’s five times as many people, and the sports range from water polo to sailing to crew.

Where was the NCAA in all this? Counting its money, as usual. Why does the federal government have to police college sports? Because no one else will.

3. Big fraud in small sports. Non-revenue sports fly under the radar at most schools, clearly opening the door for corruption.

Stanford fired John Nicholas Vandemoer, who faces 18 months in federal prison for his coaching corruption.

The same story unfolded at high-end colleges across the country, where small-sport coaches manipulated admissions officers with bogus recruits. All for the money.

High stakes, low salaries and immoral coaches make for a toxic recipe.

4. The underdog needs help. The next time someone tells you affirmative action takes spots from qualified candidates, remind them of this heartwarming scam.

It’s not bad enough that the super rich can endow a building to get their kids into schools they might not deserve to attend. Now we know that wealthy parents have been bribing shady coaches for years, achieving the same results.

Level the admissions playing field, and leave athletic playing fields out of it.

5. College sports are broken. Some folks maintain a fantasy picture of college athletics. A world where varsity lettermen roam campus in their sweaters and chinos, whistling the alma mater.

The reality is anything but. For years, we’ve known revenue sports like football and men’s basketball are rife with corruption. Players, parents, agents, boosters and coaches swim together in a cesspool of excess, fueled by TV advertising and shoe contracts.

Athletes get into school with subpar academics, only to be used as fodder for profit. Many don’t graduate. Few can make a living playing ball.

But purists argue that revenue sports beget non-revenue. You can’t have sailing without football.

Well, now we know that you can have sailing and football. With similar results.

Where does this leave us? In familiar territory. Long ago, college sports devolved into big business, charading as amateur athletics.

Now we know that even non-revenue sports have found their way into the corruption.

Al Saracevic has worked for the San Francisco Chronicle since 2000, when he came over to the paper during the merger with the San Francisco Examiner. He started at the Hearst-owned Examiner in 1994. During his time at both papers, Al has held numerous jobs ranging from copy editor to wire editor to reporter to columnist to deputy section editor. He also served as Business Editor of The Chronicle before becoming sports editor in 2009.

Among the major stories Al has covered: the dot-com boom and bust of the 1990s; the California energy crisis of the early 2000s; the Web 2.0 revolution; the rebuilding of Iraq after the initial occupation of that country; the accounting, banking and real estate crises of the middle-2000s; two U.S. Open golf tournaments; the President’s Cup; the Fiesta Bowl; the Rose Bowl; two World Series; numerous NFL playoff games; and one Super Bowl. Currently, Al remains the sports editor of The Chronicle. He also pens a weekly column called From the Sports Desk. And in his spare time, he is the founding contributor to the paper’s online snow sports blog, Slope Dope.